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“Hail Goddess full of grace”
California Catholic Daily ^ | April 24, 2007

Posted on 04/25/2007 6:54:31 AM PDT by NYer

“WOW -- coming from RC tradition I thought I’d never return to the Rosary. But here it is and here SHE IS. Blessed be, Mairly.”

The “here” in this message, found on herchurch.org, is Ebenezer Lutheran Church in San Francisco. But the SHE is not the Mother of God. SHE is “God/dess.”

On Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Ebenezer opens its sanctuary for the “Christian Goddess Rosary.” The church says it offers “Goddess Rosary Beads” and that “prayers and suggested meditations will be on hand as well as incense, candles and bells.”

“The Goddess rosary is grounded in traditions of the Christian Church and the proclamation of the gospel which is a vision of release from bondage for a new creation,” says the church’s web site.

The Goddess Rosary page on herchurch.org says that though “God as Father plays an important role” in Christian tradition, its “exclusive emphasis... contributes to a limited understanding of God, an understanding that supports a domination structure that oppresses and subordinates women.” Jesus used “Abba” as a “revolutionary deconstruction of domination structures of his day in both religious and social institutions.” The modern task is to do the same with “Goddess.”

Ebenezer, however, does not want to eradicate masculine images of God but to balance them with feminine images to “confront the biblical texts, products of their day and cultures, for the blatant patriarchal biases and misogynist attitudes.” And herchurch.org cites three Catholic theologians in support this confrontation: Harvard’s Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Fordham University’s Sister Elizabeth Johnson, and Rosemary Radford Ruether (who will lecture students in the course, “The History of God in Feminist Theological Discourse,” at LA’s Mount St. Mary’s College this spring.) Ruether calls the exclusive use of male imagery for God “idolatry.”

Herchurch.org offers a “Hail Goddess” prayer by feminist theologian Carol Christ, formerly of Harvard Divinity School but now director of the Ariadne Institute for Myth and Ritual in Greece. The prayer goes: “Hail Goddess full of grace. Blessed are you and blessed are all the fruits of your womb. For you are the MOTHER of us all. Hear us now and in all our needs. O blessed be, O blessed be. Amen.”

“I felt that I had stepped into a Presence, like a mother’s warm embrace,” wrote Dalyn Cook of Ebenezer’s Goddess Rosary. “The attendees were few in number, yet there was a sense of fullness in this welcoming space. I inhaled deeply the earthy scent of the incense, sending up delicate tendrils of smoke which curled around the altar in a nimbus visible against the warm rays of the evening sun filtering through the stained-glass windows....

“From the basket of rosaries, I took into my hand a strand of vibrantly-colored beads with a silver goddess icon in place of the traditional cross. The goddesses came in a variety of shapes and sizes, celebrating the beauty of the feminine form; I found reflections of my own figure in the full hips and Rubenesque curves of my goddess,” Cook wrote.


TOPICS: Catholic; Mainline Protestant; Prayer; Worship
KEYWORDS: elca; goddess; hailmary; lillyendowment; lutheran; maryworship; rosary; sanfranciscovalues
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To: NYer
Check out the video on their site -- watch for the wax fat womyn idol.

An Asherah cult without the fun parts.

21 posted on 04/25/2007 7:38:14 AM PDT by Lee N. Field
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To: NYer
Sigh, more ultra leftie, feminist, goddess garbage misleading more people away from God.

Sadly, not much different from this:

'Hail Persephone': Pagans Retool the Rosary

And both of these 'new' so-called 'rosaries' are nothing like the real thing.

22 posted on 04/25/2007 7:38:28 AM PDT by fortunecookie (My computer is back!)
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To: romanesq

LOL! Spot on!


23 posted on 04/25/2007 7:38:59 AM PDT by Miss Marple (Prayers for Jemian's son,: Lord, please keep him safe and bring him home .)
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To: kittymyrib
I think you misunderstand the Rosary. It is a series of prayers asking Mary, the Mother of God and Man, Jesus, to intercede for us. We ask her to pray for us while we meditate on the Life of Christ.
24 posted on 04/25/2007 7:40:05 AM PDT by Salvation (" With God all things are possible. ")
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To: Moose4

Only, our prayers are said in intercession to Mary.


25 posted on 04/25/2007 7:41:35 AM PDT by Salvation (" With God all things are possible. ")
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To: Moose4

Jeremiah 44 http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Jer/Jer044.html#25


26 posted on 04/25/2007 7:42:07 AM PDT by Esther Ruth (Hunter 08 Please)
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To: NYer
The attendees were few in number

Now, there's a bit of good news.

27 posted on 04/25/2007 7:43:37 AM PDT by ducdriver ("Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance." GKC)
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To: nanetteclaret
There’s nothing more pitiful than an aging hippy masquerading as a christian to lead the weak astray.

Nice swing, but you need to follow through...
:-)

28 posted on 04/25/2007 7:44:49 AM PDT by L,TOWM (Liberals, The Other White Meat [This is some nasty...])
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To: bboop
“The warm embrace” — the warmth would be the fires of Hell.

ROFL! And the aroma of incense is replaced with the stench of sulphur.

29 posted on 04/25/2007 7:47:22 AM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: Moose4
Was it Ezekiel or Jeremiah that denounced the Israelites for “offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven?”

Jeremiah, after he's been drug down to Egypt with the bitter end dregs of the remnants of Judah, left after Nebuchadnezzar cleaned house. Chapter 44.

30 posted on 04/25/2007 7:47:58 AM PDT by Lee N. Field
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican; All
It appears that you may not have read Luke> Here you go --

26
10 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
27
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
28
And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
30
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
32
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, 11 and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
33
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" 12
35
And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived 13 a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
37
for nothing will be impossible for God."
38
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
39
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
40
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
42
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord 14 should come to me?
44
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
45
Blessed are you who believed 15 that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
46
And Mary said: 16 "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
47
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
48
For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
49
The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
51
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
52
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
53
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
54
He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,
55
according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
56
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
 
And the footnotes:
 

8 [19] I am Gabriel: "the angel of the Lord" is identified as Gabriel, the angel who in Daniel 9:20-25 announces the seventy weeks of years and the coming of an anointed one, a prince. By alluding to Old Testament themes in Luke 1:17, 19 such as the coming of the day of the Lord and the dawning of the messianic era, Luke is presenting his interpretation of the significance of the births of John and Jesus.

9 [20] You will be speechless and unable to talk: Zechariah's becoming mute is the sign given in response to his question in v 18. When Mary asks a similar question in Luke 1:34, unlike Zechariah who was punished for his doubt, she, in spite of her doubt, is praised and reassured(Luke 1:35-37).

10 [26-38] The announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus is parallel to the announcement to Zechariah of the birth of John. In both the angel Gabriel appears to the parent who is troubled by the vision (Luke 1:11-12, 26-29) and then told by the angel not to fear (Luke 1:13, 30). After the announcement is made (Luke 1:14-17, 31-33) the parent objects (Luke 1:18, 34) and a sign is given to confirm the announcement (Luke 1:20, 36). The particular focus of the announcement of the birth of Jesus is on his identity as Son of David (Luke 1:32-33) and Son of God (Luke 1:32, 35).

11 [32] Son of the Most High: cf Luke 1:76 where John is described as "prophet of the Most High." "Most High" is a title for God commonly used by Luke (Luke 1:35, 76; 6:35; 8:28; Acts 7:48; 16:17).

12 [34] Mary's questioning response is a denial of sexual relations and is used by Luke to lead to the angel's declaration about the Spirit's role in the conception of this child (Luke 1:35). According to Luke, the virginal conception of Jesus takes place through the holy Spirit, the power of God, and therefore Jesus has a unique relationship to Yahweh: he is Son of God.

13 [36-37] The sign given to Mary in confirmation of the angel's announcement to her is the pregnancy of her aged relative Elizabeth. If a woman past the childbearing age could become pregnant, why, the angel implies, should there be doubt about Mary's pregnancy, for nothing will be impossible for God.

14 [43] Even before his birth, Jesus is identified in Luke as the Lord.

15 [45] Blessed are you who believed: Luke portrays Mary as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (Luke 1:20). Mary's role as believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the explicit mention of her presence among "those who believed" after the resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14).

16 [46-55] Although Mary is praised for being the mother of the Lord and because of her belief, she reacts as the servant in a psalm of praise, the Magnificat. Because there is no specific connection of the canticle to the context of Mary's pregnancy and her visit to Elizabeth, the Magnificat (with the possible exception of v 48) may have been a Jewish Christian hymn that Luke found appropriate at this point in his story. Even if not composed by Luke, it fits in well with themes found elsewhere in Luke: joy and exultation in the Lord; the lowly being singled out for God's favor; the reversal of human fortunes; the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. The loose connection between the hymn and the context is further seen in the fact that a few Old Latin manuscripts identify the speaker of the hymn as Elizabeth, even though the overwhelming textual evidence makes Mary the speaker.


31 posted on 04/25/2007 7:48:01 AM PDT by Salvation (" With God all things are possible. ")
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To: NYer

OMG.

I am not even Catholic, and I can smell blasphemy in this one.


32 posted on 04/25/2007 7:49:29 AM PDT by Xenalyte ("A cat can give birth to kittens in the oven. That don't make 'em biscuits." - Quanell X)
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To: Salvation

Oh, I know. I wasn’t speaking about Mary, there’s a Bible passage where one of the OT prophets condemns the Israelites for worshipping false gods like the Baals, and one of the references was to women baking cakes of bread to be offered to the “Queen of Heaven,” which IIRC, was the goddess Ishtar.

They’re trying to merge Wicca and Christianity. It’s yeast working through the true bread of Christ.

}:-)4


33 posted on 04/25/2007 7:50:28 AM PDT by Moose4 (Yoiks, and away!)
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To: NYer
“The Goddess rosary is grounded in traditions of the Christian Church and the proclamation of the gospel which is a vision of release from bondage for a new creation,” says the church’s web site.

Grounded, uh huh. Every lie and every perversion is grounded in the truth. It's not what it was grounded in that is the important thing, it's the extent of deviation from it.
34 posted on 04/25/2007 7:50:47 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: Salvation

Did you even read the post you were responding to?


35 posted on 04/25/2007 7:53:03 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: Esther Ruth; bboop
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Therefore the nether world enlarges its throat and opens its maw without limit; Down go their nobility and their masses, their throngs and their revelry.

Isaiah 5-14

36 posted on 04/25/2007 7:53:38 AM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: romanesq
If you want to glorify your tonage added to your hips and such, go pray before an altar of Ben & Jerrys.

LOL!

But seriously, one of the things about these flakes is that always, deep down inside, they want to worship themselves.

37 posted on 04/25/2007 7:54:46 AM PDT by livius
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To: NYer
she is collaborating on a multi-volume Encyclopedia of Women in American Religion with Rosemary Skinner Keller, a project funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Ford Foundation and Lilly Endowment, heresy's sugar daddies.

38 posted on 04/25/2007 7:55:12 AM PDT by Nihil Obstat (Kyrie Eleison)
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To: NYer; All
Click on the sets of mysteries for a listing of the meditations on Christ's life.

The whole Rosary is composed of twenty decades. Each decade is recited in honor of a mystery in Our Lord's Life and that of his Blessed Mother.
It is customary to recite five decades at a time while meditating on one set of mysteries.
The decades may be separated, if the entire chaplet is completed on the same day.
Each Mystery may be meditate "bead by bead" for every Hail Mary of the decade.


The
Mysteries
of the Rosary
JOYFUL on Monday and Saturday.

SORROWFUL on Tuesday and Friday.

GLORIOUS on Wednesday and Sunday.


39 posted on 04/25/2007 7:55:21 AM PDT by Salvation (" With God all things are possible. ")
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To: Salvation

I have read it and I know it quite well. As an Orthodox Christian I also know about the importance of the Blessed Theotokos in the plan of salvation and of devotion to her.

There is nothing there or otherwise in accepted, orthodox (small “o”)Christian tradition about a “goddess.”


40 posted on 04/25/2007 7:56:50 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (Fred Thompson 2008)
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